Electrochromic devices on non-rectangular shapes
View Patent ↗This present invention relates to bus bar configurations and fabrication methods of non-rectangular shaped (e.g., triangular, trapezoidal, circular, pentagonal, hexagonal, arched, etc.) optical devices. The optical device comprises a first side, a second side, and a third side adjacent to the second side and two bus bars spanning a portion of the optical device.
1. A method of fabricating an optically switchable device on a non-rectangular substrate, the method comprising:
(a) receiving at a laser tool the non-rectangular substrate having disposed thereon one or more layers of the optically switchable device; and
(b) directing a laser spot according to two or more non-rectangular laser patterns onto a region at the periphery of the optically switchable device along two straight edges of the non-rectangular substrate to remove at least one of the one or more layers of the optically switchable device from the region without re-orienting the non-rectangular substrate as it passes through the laser tool, wherein the two straight edges meet at a corner that is not a right angle.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser spot is circular in shape.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser spot is directed to remove the one or more layers of the optically switchable device at the region in a single pass of the non-rectangular substrate through the laser tool.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser spot is circular and the two or more non-rectangular laser patterns comprise overlapping circles formed by a circular laser spot.
5. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the laser spot is rectangular, and
wherein the rectangular laser spot is oriented at an angle with respect to a path of the non-rectangular substrate through the laser tool when the rectangular laser spot is directed along one of the two straight edges oriented at the angle.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two or more non-rectangular laser patterns are differently shaped.
7. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the region of the non-rectangular substrate where the at least one of the one or more layers is removed comprises a bus bar pad expose area; and
further comprising forming a bus bar on the bus bar pad expose area.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the region of the non-rectangular substrate where the at least one of the one or more layers is removed comprises an edge deletion area.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the non-rectangular laser patterns comprises lines at an angle to a path of the non-rectangular substrate through the laser tool.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser spot is directed according to at least one of the two or more non-rectangular laser patterns at an angle to a path of the non-rectangular substrate through the laser tool.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laser spot is directed along the corner of the two straight edges.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein one of the two or more non-rectangular laser patterns bridges the corner of the two straight edges.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the region of the non-rectangular substrate where the at least one of the one or more layers is removed includes a bus bar pad expose area or an edge deletion area, located outside a viewable area of the optically switchable device.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising moving the substrate with the optical switchable device in a linear path through the laser tool.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optically switchable device is an electrochromic device having a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, and an electrochromic layer between the first and second conductive layers.
16. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the region of the non-rectangular substrate where the at least one of the one or more layers is removed includes a bus bar pad expose area; and
further comprising forming a bus bar on the bus bar pad expose area.